The number of schoolchildren hospitalized after a mass poisoning in Almaty continues to rise: Kazakhstan's Children's Ombudsperson Dinara Zakiyeva announced new admissions, while the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan confirmed violations of sanitary requirements in the food service area, infohub.kz reports.
According to the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Kazakhstan, a monitoring group is currently working at the scene. The ministry's official statement said violations of sanitary requirements were found in the food service area.
“Restrictive measures have been introduced, and work is underway to establish the circumstances of the incident. The Board of Directors and the Management of the RFMSH have been instructed to strengthen control over the organization of meals and compliance with sanitary requirements, as well as to ensure the safety of students. To ensure the safety of students and the continuity of the educational process, instruction has been temporarily organized in a distance format. Currently, the priority is to ensure safety and protect the rights of students, to fully clarify the circumstances of the incident and to take necessary measures based on the results of inspections,” the statement says.
Meanwhile, Kazakhstan's Children's Ombudsperson Dinara Zakiyeva said on her personal Instagram page that the number of hospitalized children has increased.
“I visited the children admitted to the hospital with poisoning in Almaty. In total, 43 boys and 5 girls. Just now, three more children were brought in; they live in the RFMSH boarding school and came from different regions. Their condition is stable, and an investigation into the poisoning is underway,” Zakiyeva wrote.
A NUR.KZ correspondent sent a request to the press service of the Almaty Public Health Department.
Earlier it was reported that dozens of students of the Republican Physics and Mathematics School of Almaty were hospitalized with signs of acute intestinal infection. After that, inspections began at the school.
Later, the press service of the Almaty Public Health Department reported that 48 students were hospitalized in the city infectious diseases hospital, and another 6 children were isolated in the boarding school and are under medical observation.